Toy Cleaning: Could Your Cleaning Products Be Hurting Your Kids?

By now, you’ve probably heard about the mold found inside every child’s favorite toy giraffe. We understand that when you have kids, dirt, grime and messes are unavoidable. It’s a fact of parenting. This doesn’t mean you have to compromise your child’s safety to get results when cleaning up after your kids.

Up until the last decade or so, it was commonplace to believe that only chemicals could get things clean enough. However, Baby Care by e-cloth’s Toy & Nursery Cloth cleans toys with just water. The extra thick and fluffy fibers easily reach into even the toughest crevices to remove drool, grime and hardened messes from all hard surfaces your baby comes in contact with like toys and nursery furniture.

Cleaning without Chemicals & an e-cloth Review

Another reason I was so interested in starting a blog (I never knew I had so many reasons until I actually started typing all this stuff out, actually!), is to share some of the things I have learned from my job that impact how and what my family buys.

First, some background, I am a research librarian. I won’t go into specifics, but I research laws, regulations, and standards that consumer products need to follow in order to be sold around the world.

I know, I know – sounds pretty glamorous, eh? In all honesty though, I love my job. Researching can truly be like a treasure hunt and with every day being so different, the days really fly by! Plus, they give us ice cream on the weeks we don’t get paid, so what’s not to love??

Anyhoo, one of the main things I have tried to change over the past 7 years, is reducing the number of chemicals I use to clean our home. I have definitely jumped on the bandwagon of using the various cleaning concoctions (of the Pinterest variety) that use ingredients like vinegar and baking soda.

However, about a year and half ago I made an amazing discovery – microfiber cloths that clean only with water! And remove over 99% of bacteria. Say whaaaat??

It’s true, guys. I totally researched it.

There are a couple companies out there (at least what I would consider the major players) that sell these, e-cloth and Norwex. And I’ll be honest – I own and use both e-cloth and Norwex products (that I have purchased on my own, before this little ol’ blog existed).

I’ve really liked trying both types of cloths because it led me to two conclusions:

The cloths from both companies work really well!

e-cloths are such a better value in my opinion! They easily work the same or better than the Norwex products I’ve tried (and I’ll disclaimer this by saying, I’ve only ever tried the cloth products – none of the other “cleaners” that are sold), and they cost WAY less!

So, let’s see…something that cleans (I’m a little obsessed with cleaning!) and is a deal?? (I’m also a little obsessed with saving)

SIGN. ME. UP!

We’d been happily using our cloths now for months and months, when (fast forward to now), e-cloths reached out to me to see if I would be interested in trying out their new Chemical-free Cleaning Toy & Nursery Cloth for the blog.

*I was gifted the Chemical-free Cleaning Toy & Nursery Cloth by e-cloth, but all opinions are my own!*

Chemical-free Cleaning Toy & Nursery Cloth

And can I tell you, for being a gal who loves to clean and who loves to use my e-cloths, I had yet to use them on toys or even the high chair! *gasp!* Here I have been using paper towels like a non-eco-friendly rookie!

That all changed when this oh-so-soft yellow cloth showed up in the mail!

my new e-cloth!

I got right to work…using it on our son’s plastic train table, the 3,672 Fisher Price Little People figures we have, toy trucks, pretend play food, and more! And all just using water, so there is no weird, sticky residue afterwards.

I’ll be the first to be skeptical about something, and so a part of me wondered if I really needed another cloth if I already had a couple many e-cloths in my arsenal. However, this cloth has a totally different texture (nap? pile? I’m not sure of the correct terminology here), which made it perfect for cleaning toys. Soft, and slightly shaggier (the nap, I’m pretty sure this time, because I had to go research it!), since it gets in all those tiny little nooks, crannies, and crevices.

A close up view!

All in all, I’m more than impressed. This little e-cloth can work. I now have it, safely hung up, with my other e-cloths, just inside our door to the basement (that is off our kitchen, next to the family room/playroom), so it’s quick and easy to grab it and get to cleaning. No huge caddy of chemicals and cleaners to pull out = a mommy (and daddy!) who are more likely to actually get cleaning done on a regular basis in our busy household!

So there you have it…a great way to clean gross, sticky, germy toys – chemical free!!